On the road with the US military in Kunduz (Feature)

By Can Merey Jul 13, 2010, 13:31 GMT

Kunduz, Afghanistan - The engines of the armoured vehicles burr, the sun beats down from the sky, and the wind blows dust through the outpost. The US military's Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan, is no beauty spot.

Violence this year in the previously-quiet northern province of Kunduz has reached new levels, as the Taliban insurgency has steadily moved in. In April alone, seven German soldiers were killed in the region.

The Americans are therefore here to take on the mission that their German NATO allies, who nominally control the northern region of the country, did not succeed in - taming the Taliban.

Before departure all the men form a circle, grab each other's shoulders and after a prayer the sergeant demands a motto for the operation. 'Fuck the Taliban' one of the soldiers suggests. And 'Fuck the Taliban' comes echoing back from the platoon.

US-President Barack Obama has sent 800 soldiers from the battle- hardened 10th Mountain Division to Kunduz in order to push back the Taliban in the province. The core task of the American soldiers: so-called partnering with the Afghan National Police (ANP), who have a bad reputation amongst large parts of the Afghan population and are considered corrupt.

The US soldiers train the police. But not only that, they fight and patrol together and at night they all sleep in the ANP's compounds. In short: soldiers and policemen are supposed to live together and to share the hardship of their missions.

At the end of their one-year mission, a better trained police is supposed to have acquired the ability to hold areas from which the Taliban have previously been cleared - and the population should then have more trust in the police.

In parallel to US troops, the German Bundeswehr, or military, want to increase the training of the Afghan army by their own training and protection battalion from August.

In Germany, pressure to withdraw from Afghanistan altogether is increasing, with the foreign minister saying in July that a security handover in at least one northern province should begin next year. Some opinion polls say as much as 60 per cent of the German population oppose their army's Afghan mission.

On this hot summer day the platoon of Alpha Company is headed for the police barracks in Imam Sahib town, close to the border with Tajikistan. Part of the district is controlled by the Taliban.

The armoured vehicles go slowly and carefully. Unlike earlier, the weapons of the onboard gunners are not aiming at following or oncoming cars, in an effort to minimise intimidation of the population.

The guidelines on fighting the insurgency laid down by former US Commander in Afghanistan Stanley MacChrystal, are making an impact - it is no longer the goal to kill as many insurgents as possible but in fact to win the hearts and minds of the population.

But it doesn't seem so everywhere.

'Hey, this town doesn't like us. People don't wave back at me,' the gunner on top of the armoured car says in a village on the way to Imam Sahib town.

After about two hours the convoy arrives at the district capital. The vehicles roll into a compound surrounded by walls right next to the police headquarters. The soldiers will sleep outside.

Some men fire up the barbecue. At the beginning of a mission there is still fresh food. Today there are cheeseburgers and Afghan bread. Towards the end, only MREs (Meals Ready to Eat - just add water), will be on the menu.

Meanwhile, the US-officers go to the police chief of the district, Kajum Ibrahimi. He complains that he has fewer than 90 policemen available for a population of 475,000 people.

'That's not enough,' he says.

In the fight against the Taliban the badly equipped and trained police force has paid the highest death toll by far - way more than the national army or foreign troops.

But since American troops have come to Kunduz the Afghan police force appears much more confident than before. This is not only the case in Imam Sahib but also in other parts of the province.

Everywhere in Kunduz you can hear that the insurgents are afraid of the US-troops - and that this was not the case with the German army.

'People now have trust that the Americans and the ANP will defeat the Taliban,' says Ibrahimi. 'The Taliban have also realized this.'